In February 2018, UNCDF, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, supported CashZone, a Beninese service aggregator to deploy agents in rural areas of northern Benin. Six months later, a network began to take shape in targeted areas where people had to travel long distances to access digital financial services. Download the factsheet to know more about the project.

In Benin, only 16% of the adult population has a mobile money account in rural areas and there are only 37 communes with fewer than eight agents per 10,000 inhabitants.

Access to financial services is a key factor in achieving financial inclusion. That is why MM4P, a UN Capital Development Fund programme (UNCDF-MM4P), in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, supported CashZone, a Beninese service aggregator to deploy agents in rural areas of northern Benin.

CashZone offers a digital platform that integrates the main digital finance providers in Benin. The platform has management tools to help agents follow up on their business activity. Agents can also access a dashboard with statistics on transactions. Aiming to increase the number of active agents in rural areas with economic potential; improve agents, activities and managements and enhance customer experiences.

UNCDF-MM4P supported CashZone in the development of its business plan and the provision of training to its agents, encouraging the aggregator to expand outside its comfort zone. Six months later, a network began to take shape in targeted areas where people had to travel long distances to access digital financial services.

“The new agents who deployed in our village helped solve the major difficulty related to the long distances we had
to travel to receive or send money. As a bricklayer, now I just need to share my mobile money account with my client and easily withdraw the cash to perform the service.”

- Sounouvou, a client from So-Ava

Main lessons learnt:

1. It takes a significant amount of time to obtain administrative documents. Many recruited agents are unaware of the processes for requesting administrative documents, they need in order to be registered and the steps to take to overcome barriers along the way. In this project, CashZone negotiated with one provider to lighten the requirements (called ‘Know Your Agent’) and ease the process, allowing agents with a national identity card and residence certificate to start the business activity.
2. It is harder to recruit a woman agent. In rural areas, the social context can limit the role of women to that of wives and mothers. Women agents often need the permission of their husband or parents to start any activity. During the last recruitment process, CashZone included husbands and householders and organized financial education sessions with women’s groups.

The results of the pilot demonstrated the opportunities of going rural for digital nance providers. Looking forward, CashZone plans to deploy new agents to reach more customers in remote areas of Benin. The aggregator has already started improving its mobile application based on the lessons learned during the pilot phase.

For a more in depth look into CashZone and UNCDF's challenges, solutions, and the projects full timeline and statistics, download full factsheet here.